Philips to launch Ambilight successor Aurea
Consumer electronics manufacturer Philips will demo their successor to Ambilight -- the ambient lighting technology that generates light effects on the sides of a television -- at European expo IFA on August 30. The new technology, named Aurea, will be featured using a film by director Wong Kar called Seduction by Light. From early photos, the new sets incorporate the lighting directly into the frame, instead of using the previous method of a glass frame around the set.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Don @ Aug 15th 2007 8:50PM
That looks completely retarded.
peterhuizen @ Aug 16th 2007 3:21AM
Take a look at the official Philips Aurea website: www.seductionbylight.com
peterhuizen @ Aug 16th 2007 3:22AM
http://www.seductionbylight.com
mattydread @ Aug 16th 2007 1:39PM
I still don't understand the appeal of Ambilight or this new type of light show. Why don't they spend their energy improving the display, the thing I'm actually looking at, rather than fiddle around with a makeshift disco-light?
tony @ Aug 16th 2007 6:57PM
If you've never seen a Philips Ambilight TV in a home setting, then you might not get the idea and it might seem like a big marketing gimmick. However, if you have seen it in that setting (I own one) then you realize that Ambilight is about the best thing to happen to the TV since HBO. Its not about 'coolness' factor or a disco effect. Its about creating an ambient lighting effect that 1) is easier on the eyes 2) expands the visual field of the image on the screen 3) allows you to turn out every other light in your room and not get eye strain 4) creates a more immersive viewing experience, and finally 4) it actually is pretty cool to look at.
I hope that I never have to go back to watching TV without this ambient lighting (ambilight) effect because it rocks. I know that there are TVs out there that have better overall image quality than a Philips TV (not that Philips is bad) but nobody else has Ambilight so as long as they continue to make it I will be their customer.
I look at everyone else's TVs and feel sorry for them for not having such an immersive experience as me (though you can buy some aftermarket add-ons from other companies that try to do what Philips achieves brilliantly).
One last word... Don't knock it til you've tried it.
Brett @ Sep 2nd 2007 10:26AM
Boo Yaahh!!!
That pretty much sums it up, Tony! When I first saw a Philips Ambilight TV on demo at Best Buy, I had the same knee-jerk reaction of "please, what a crock!" but then I spent a couple months installing home theater systems and learning about proper viewing environment setup, and I learned the indispensible advice of providing some kind of backlight on the wall behind the display. The fact is that a television screen in a typical viewing environment occupies only 10 to 20% of your field of view, and many people don't realize just how taxing it is on their eyes to stare at so (relatively) small a space for two or three hours at a time. Simply putting a modest backlight behind the screen improves the viewing experience remarkably.
So coming back to the ambilight demo at Best Buy some three months later, it began to make sense that this is a profound value-add in a high def display. Especially when you consider that the lighting changes gradually and smoothly to match the dominant color on the screen at that moment. And, if you're feeling especially trendy, you can run the ambilight as a fixed color with the TV off and have a $2,500 wall sconce, LOL!
I own a 42" ambilight Philips, and I'll never buy another TV without it!